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Monday, January 11, 2021

Diversification of Social Media is a Necessity These Days, Even as a Tabletop Gamer

Once upon a time, there was Facebook and Twitter and it was good. We'll before the once upon a time, there was MySpace, and that was bad, but now it is gone. Then Google+ made a splash, and the three were huge before Google killed Google+, and then there were two.

Or where there?

MeWe, Gab, Parlar, Instagram, Tumbler, Reddit, Discord, and more stood up, and they were noticed. And thus it was, that the social media universe got crowded, and confusing, and occasionally there were de-platforming of platforms. What is a content creator or content consumer to do?

As an avid "old school gamer", I still mourn the loss of Google+ and have yet to see a single platform replace the amount of gaming focus that was there. Maybe that is a good thing, as relying on a single social media platform can be, need I say it, dangerous. Poof, and it's gone. Much like Google+ itself. April 2nd will mark 2 years of its passing.

The Tavern has a presence on more than one social media platform and uses more than one medium to reach its community.

The Tavern has a huge presence on Facebook, with The Tavern's Facebook Community having over 2,600 members. But we can't put all of our eggs in one basket, and neither should you.

The Tavern's Group over on MeWe has over 700 members. Should it be more active? Probably. MeWe's interface takes some time to adjust to after Facebook. Join us and make it more active ;)

Over on The Tavern's Discord Server, we have 2,200 members. Discord is much different than Facebook or MeWe, as conversations run in real-time, and we do a hosted voice chat every Thursday Night at 9 PM Eastern. It is a lively place to be. Be wary, as it can be a hidden time sink, and you will wonder where the hours went.

I'm also on Twitter, but that simply shares updates of the blog and podcast. I'm @tenkar on Twitter.

The YouTube Channel for The Tavern is YouTube.com/ErikTenkar. We have LiveStreams every Wednesday and Friday night. Every episode of the Tavern Chat Podcast is also shared on The Tavern's YouTube Channel. If you want to show your support to The Tavern in its various formats, please subscribe to the YouTube Channel. The more reach the podcast achieves, the greater the reach of The Tavern as a whole. Besides, we love the live feedback on our LiveStreams.

I've been asked if I'll be sharing The Tavern's video content on a platform/platforms other than YouTube. I'm looking into it, as the idea is not just valid, but probably a necessity.

Did you know that I'm an admin at the largest Dungeons & Dragons Group on MeWe? Join JoetheLawyer, Tim Shorts (fellow admins), and nearly 5,200 other D&D gamers for some very lively discussion. We've added over 200 members since this past Friday. Now THAT is growth!

There are many other gaming-based communities to be found on the various social media platforms. Do yourself a favor - make a presence for yourself on more than one platform and in more than one Group, Community, and the like. If you, like me and many others, like to avoid political discussion and related topics and drama in your social media (and the associated stress that comes with such discussion), I strongly advise that you focus your attention and energies on Groups, Communities, and the like on the various social media platforms. It's the main, general feeds that are a free-for-all of name-calling, shaming, grandstanding, chest-thumping, and worse. I have a close friend that has "unfollowed" all of his "friends" on Facebook. A genius solution to avoiding the general shitstorm that can infest social media, while still allowing for notifications of activity occurring in the groups, as well as participating in those that one is a member of.

The Tavern is supported by readers like you. The easiest way to support The Tavern is to shop via our affiliate links. DTRPGAmazon, and Humble Bundle are the affiliate programs that support The Tavern.  

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2 comments:

  1. Before I dumped it, I found FB's non-linear time fetish to be like watching a bad episode of Dr. Who.

    Not only do you need a diversity of platforms in case you get the boot, but with the various ones getting tagged for their perceived political actions (or alleged biases of their user base), any single one is likely to only be acceptable to use by part of the market.

    Supposedly lbry (I think it is that one, might be bitchute) has a feature that you can use to automatically import videos from YT. This lets content creators post content once and have it show up on multiple platforms. Depending upon how many video platforms you want to be on, this might suffice. There is also the Rube Goldberg solution- device A streams to platform a, device B to b, and so on. You might end up looking goofy with a forest of microphones in front of you, but this works (I've seen someone in the political commentary sphere do this and it is acceptable quality).

    ReplyDelete

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